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Anna: I have spent my life in bookstores and libraries, working at a children's bookstore, a college bookstore, Barnes & Noble, and volunteering at two libraries (aside from, you know, visiting libraries and bookstores on my days off). From 1998-2005 I attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, graduating with a B.A. in Women's Studies and History. In 2011, I graduated with an M.L.S. in library science and an M.A. in history. I work as the Assistant Reference Librarian at the Massachusetts Historical Society. My primary scholarly interests are in the history of feminist activism and the history of education, sexuality and gender, and religion and culture.

About my libraryThis library contains the books of the Cook-Clutterbuck household. We are currently working to add all of Hanna's books to mine. The "Your Library" collection contains both personal libraries. To see Hanna's or Anna's libraries, select the appropriate collection.

Anna: "I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. My music is me, too, of course--but as I only like rock and roll and its mutations, huge chunks of me--my rarely examined operatic streak, for example--are unrepresented in my CD collection. And I don't have the wall space or the money for all the art I would want, and my house is a shabby mess, ruined by children . . . But with each passing year, and each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not. Maybe that's not worth the thirty-odd quid I blew on those collections of letters, admittedly, but it's got to be worth something, right?" --Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree (p. 125).

I have been collecting books since before I could actually read for myself. Hence, my collection is fairly autobiographical, and reflects all my growing and changing interests. It's really, as Arthur Ransome said, "an important part of my own brain" (and heart), and when I am not living in its midst, I feel a bit lost.